ther ceremony the court pronounced sentence against Mary, daughter of James V., commonly called Queen of Scotland; "for that since the conclusion of the session of parliament, viz., since the 1st day of June, in the twenty-seventh year of her majesty's reign, and before the date of the commission, divers matters have been compassed and imagined within this realm of England by Anthony Babington and others, with the privity of the said Mary, pretending a title to the crown of this realm of England, tending to the hurt, death, and destruction of the royal person of our lady the queen: and also for that the aforesaid Mary, pretending a title to the crown, hath herself compassed and imagined within this realm divers matters tending to the hurt, death, and destruction of the royal person of our sovereign lady the queen, contrary to the form of the statute in the commission aforesaid specified."*

Mary clearly foresaw that the departure of the commissioners from Fotheringay would be followed by the arrival of the executioner; and she told Sir Amyas Pawlet that history made mention how the realm of England was used to shed royal blood. But though Elizabeth had procured a sentence, she paused at the prospect of the block, being resolved, as was usual with her, to make the weight of blood seem to fall upon others. And there were others, including the highest names in the kingdom, and among the representatives of the people, who seemed quite ready to take the burden upon their own consciences. On the 29th of October, four days after the passing of the sentence, the parliament assembled, and on the 12th of November both houses, addressing the queen, implored her to give orders for the immediate execution of the Queen of Scots. Mr. Serjeant Puckering, the speaker, in the name of the commons, pointed out the very dangerous consequences of sparing any longer the life of that wicked woman. He then quoted examples from the Bible of rulers who had incurred the vengeance of the

*

Burghley Papers. - Hardwick Papers.- Camden. Howell, State Trials.-Jebb, Life of Mary.-Original letters cited by Chalmers, Ellis. Raumer, and Wright.

Almighty by showing mercy to their enemies, as Saul, who had saved King Agag, and Ahab, who had preserved Benhadad. The speaker ended by saying that they relied upon her princely resolution, and that they accounted the execution as a thing that would be unto God most acceptable. Elizabeth commenced her reply by expressing gratitude for the special care which Providence had taken of her, and by asserting that her nature was so devoid of malice, that even now, although she had been convicted of treason, if she thought Mary would repent, and her emissaries not pursue their designs —or, that if they were two milk-maids, with pails upon their arms, and it was merely a question which involved her own life without endangering the religion and welfare of her people, she would most willingly pardon all her offences. She then pathetically declared that if, by her own death, the kingdom might be bettered, she would willingly die, having nothing worth living for. Next she reproached the house for their frequently standing more upon form than matter,-more upon the words than the sense of the law; complaining that the late act of parliament about treasons (which had been devised in her own closet) had brought her into a great strait, by obliging her to give directions for her kinswoman's death, which was to her a most grievous and irksome burden. But, then, changing her tone to keep up the panic-alarm, and the cry for blood, she said that she would tell them a secret;-that she lately saw it written that an oath was taken within a few days by certain persons either to kill her or to be hanged themselves, and thereupon she expressed her mindfulness of their own oath of association for the security of her person. She ended her long discourse by saying "that she thought it requisite, with earnest prayer, to beseech the Divine Majesty so to illuminate her understanding, and to inspire her with His grace, that she might see clearly to do and determine that which should serve to the establishment of His church, preservation of their estates, and the prosperity of the commonwealth under her charge; wherein, as she knew delays are dangerous, they should, with all

convenience, have her resolution." When a few days had passed, she sent a message to the lords and commons, earnestly charging them to consider whether some other means might not be suggested. The two houses deliberated and conferred with one another, and then unanimously replied that no other sound and assured means could be devised for the safety of the realm, religion, and her majesty's person. But Elizabeth had not yet done acting. In reply to this address she said that she had had a fearful struggle with herself-that she had entertained a greedy desire and hungry will that their consultations might have had another issue-that she must complain, though not of them, unto them; for that she perceived by their advice, prayers, and desires, that only her injurer's bane must be her security. But, in the meanwhile, whispers had been spread abroad by those who knew Elizabeth's character, and these rumours she met by declaring, that if any persons were so wicked as to suppose that she prolonged this time only to make a show of clemency, they did her so great a wrong as they could hardly recompense-that she, in referring the subject of Mary's execution to parliament, had earnestly desired that every one should act in that matter according to his conscience, and that, if her ministers had not signified as much to them, they had not done their duty towards her. She said that she had just cause to complain that she, who had pardoned so many rebels, and winked at so many treasons, should now be obliged to take the life of such a person. Many opprobrious books and pamphlets had accused her of being a tyrant, which was, indeed, news to her; but what would they now say if a maiden queen should spill the blood of her own kinswoman? Yet it were a foolish course to cherish a sword to cut her own throat; and she was infinitely beholden to them who sought to preserve her life. Then she reverted to a round-about, oracular style, saying, "If I should say I will not do what you require, it might, peradventure, be saying more than I mean; and if I should say I will do it, it might, perhaps, breed greater peril than those from which you would protect me." She then gave a few

comfor able words to the members before they returned to their counties, and dismissed them.*

A few days after, on the 6th of December, she ordered the sentence of death to be proclaimed in various parts of London and in other places, which was done in great state, and with infinite rejoicings. In London every house was illuminated, the bells were rung from every steeple, bonfires were lit in every street, and there was a great singing of psalms in all parts of the city.† Lord Buckhurst and Mr. Robert Beale, accompanied by a great troop, were sent to Fotheringay Castle to announce her doom to the captive, and to tell her in Elizabeth's name what especial favour had been shown to her in her trial by the appointment of many distinguished noblemen and the whole of the privy council to be her judges, instead of obliging her to appear before the common criminal courts. Buckhurst and Beale were instructed to obtain, if possible, a confession of guilt from Mary, who, it was calculated, would lose heart and courage at the close prospect of death. But Elizabeth had formed a wrong estimate of the strength of her rival's character. Mary, whatever may have been her former errors or guilt, suffered and died like a heroine and a martyr. She received the message, not merely with firmness but with cheerfulness, saying, that she was a-weary of this world and glad that her troubles were about to end. The two messengers were accompanied by a Protestant bishop and a dean, according to their notion, to direct her conscience and administer spiritual comfort in this extremity, according to her notion, to persecute her with their heretical intolerance in her last moments. She wholly rejected their assistance, but begged in the blessed name of Christ that she might be attended by her own almoner, who was in the castle, though long since separated from her. Buckhurst and the Protestant priests brutally told her that, do what she might, she could hardly die a saint even in Catholic eyes, seeing that she had been fairly condemned for attempting to murder their queen. Once more Mary, † Holinshed.

* D'Ewes.-Howell.-Camden.

with the name of her Saviour in her mouth, denied that she had ever devised, counselled, or commanded the death of Queen Elizabeth. When left to herself and her Catholic chaplain, she wrote a letter to the Pope and another to the Archbishop of Glasgow, in which she called upon her relatives of the House of Guise, who had been accused equally with herself, to vindicate her character. A few days after her gaolers, Sir Amyas Pawlet and Sir Drew Drury, informed her that, as she had refused to make any submission or confession, and as she was now dead in law, she had no right to the insignia of royalty which hitherto had been left to her in her prison. Mary replied that she was an anointed queen,-that, in spite of Elizabeth, her council, and her heretical judges, she would still die a queen. While Pawlet's servants took down her canopy of state, and disrobed her of the regal ornaments, the starch puritan himself sat down with his hat on in her presence, and otherwise insulted her. Mary then wrote her last letter to her rival, telling her that her mind was free from malice and resentment,-that she thanked God that he was now pleased to put an end to her troublesome pilgrimage, that the only favours she would ask were that she might not be privately put to death, and that her servants and others might be allowed to witness her end,*-that her faithful attendants might have liberty to leave England without disturbance, and quietly enjoy the small legacies she had bequeathed them, and that her body might be conveyed for interment to France. These things she besought her to grant in the name of Christ, by their near relationship, by the me

# 66 Fearing," says Mary, "as I do, the secret tyranny of some persons, I beg you not to permit the sentence to be executed upon me without your knowledge; not from fear of the torment, which I am very ready to suffer, but on account of the reports which, in the absence of witnesses above suspicion, might be spread respecting my death, as I know has been done in the case of others of different condition. To avoid which I desire that my servants shall be spectators and witnesses of my death, in the faith of my Saviour and in obedience to His church."